MPs call on UK to support new UN human rights treaty

A proposed now optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child will make it clear that the right to education includes early childhood care and pre-primary education.

• Parliamentarians in the UK have written to the Minister for Development to show their support for a proposed new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• The new treaty would enshrine an explicit right to early childhood care and education; to free public pre-primary education, beginning with at least one year; and to free public secondary education—consistent with the right to free primary education.

14 MPs and peers from the UK have spoken up in support of strengthening the right to free education.

Writing to Baroness Chapman, Minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, in July this year, they called on the government to support the negotiations at the UN Human Rights Council on a new human rights instrument that would guarantee free education for all children, from pre-primary through secondary.

“All governments have already pledged through the Sustainable Development Goals to provide all children with access to pre-primary and ensure all children complete free secondary education,” said Mr Bambos Charalambous MP, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Education, who signed the letter.

“The proposed Optional Protocol will ensure that international human rights law explicitly recognises that free public pre-primary and secondary education are part of the right of education,” he said.

“Early childhood education supports children’s development and ensures that when they start school, they are ready to acquire critical foundational literacy and numeracy skills, which is a policy priority for the UK,” added Lord Michael German, another signatory.

“Supporting the new treaty will be an excellent way for the UK to drive more recognition of the importance of early years education.”

“The international human rights regime faces serious threats, but universal human rights laws still have a central part to play in defending and advancing human dignity,” said Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, co-founder and Executive Director of IPNEd, speaking in support of the letter.

“Supporting the proposal for a new Optional Protocol would demonstrate the United Kingdom’s positive engagement with international human rights mechanisms and its commitment to realising the right to education for every child.”